I would like to welcome Erica Hayes to The Avid Reader today. Thanks for stopping by Erica. Please be sure and check out Erica's novel Revelation book #1 in The Seven Signs Series. Check out my review of Revelation and my interview with Erica. Oh don't forget to enter the giveaway for 1 $25 bookstore gift card (winner's choice of bookstore), 1 signed set of the Shadowfae series (4 paperbacks) and 2 Kindle copies of short vampire romance HUNTER’S BLOOD.
Title: Revelation
Series: The Seven Signs, Book 1
Author: Erica Hayes
Genre: paranormal romance, urban fantasy romance
ISBN: 978-0425258378
Number of pages: 330
Word Count: 100K
Cover Artist: Kris Keller
PURCHASE
Revelation
Paperback
PURCHASE
Revelation
Ebook
BOOK DESCRIPTION
Revelation
A fallen angel with a mission and a medical examiner who's lost her faith are fighting for their souls in a glittering, near-future Manhattan...
Blind faith is for fools. That's what Dr. Morgan Sterling believes. And she's going to prove it by curing the zombie plague ravaging her city's slums. She's certain it's not a sign of the End of Days, but a nasty disease-until an angel appears in her morgue in a flash of glory.
Luniel is not just a fallen angel. He's a powerful warrior sworn to fight evil in hopes of a chance at redemption. He's after the demon princes who are stealing the seven vials of holy wrath which, when perverted, will unleash eternal hell on earth.
To stop the plague, Luniel needs Morgan's help, and her faith. But Morgan believes science is their salvation. If the zombie plague is a demonic curse-and if Luniel is true-he'll have to prove it. Even if he loses his heart to true love or his soul to Hell...
EXCERPT
Revelation
Today, of all days. It was Thursday. The world couldn't end on a Thursday.
Luniel, the fallen angel, crouched on the shore of Liberty Island in a hot August sunset with blood lapping at his feet. It licked the rocks beneath his boots, clotting. All the way across the bay, to the firelit Brooklyn shore and the gleaming blue arcs of the Narrows Bridge, what used to be water gleamed sick and scarlet.
The angel sniffed the air, and tasted copper. A dead fish bobbed belly-up, pale white flesh and fins. He poked the warm liquid with his finger, and licked. Yeah. Definitely blood. And human. There were seaweeds and algae that sported the same fleshy color. But Luniel had tasted enough blood in his three thousand years to know this wasn't algae.
He straightened. No breeze flicked his long black hair back. In his human guise, he had no wings. He scanned the distant shore with sharp blue eyes, further than any human could see, and his nose twitched. Hunting. For something. Anything. A trick. A college prank. A fish slaughterhouse. Overflow from some industrial accident, one of the factories along the built-up Jersey waterfront spilling toxic chemicals.
Not a sign of the Apocalypse. Not God's wrath.
Across the bloody bay, Babylon's glittering towers razored the red sky, the decadent sprawl of skyscrapers and spires they once called Manhattan. The sunset flashed on steel and mirrored windows, glaring in competition with neon lights and rainbow columns of virtual advertising. Even from here, Lune's preternatural ears detected buzzing electrics, the faint digital beep of comms towers, snatches of conversations, and in his magical angelsight, the city glowed, green with the living, pulsing energy of human souls.
Helicopters lasered their searchlights through smoke and heat haze, sweeping over burned-out housing projects and shining condominiums. Traffic noise hummed, the groaning subway, horns and engines and wailing sirens, police and fire and the ever-more-urgent ambulances. At the height of summer, plague had stolen into the Empire State like a homicidal houseguest, more frightening than California dengue and deadlier than arctic flu, and people were afraid.
But terror happened in Babylon, the world's richest, rottenest city of sin. You only had to look at the shining glass spire piercing the sky, one hundred and ten stories high, built back in wiser days where a pair of ill-fated twin towers once stood. The world had turned ever more rapidly to shit since then, but Luniel still remembered that day well. That day, angels dived for earth, fiery wings flashing, but it was too late. Even the fallen, like Lune, were powerless. The people screamed and died and thought the world was ending.
Horrific? Yeah. But the monkeys had no idea what they were in for.
What the end of the world would really be like.
Luniel shivered. This wasn't over yet. It couldn't be.
He dug into his jeans pocket for his phone, and speed-dialed. Trendy SIM implants in your ears were all very well for humans, but fast-healing angelflesh rejected biotech. The irony was pleasing and bitter. "Come on, Ithiel," he muttered. "Answer your rotted phone."
Ithiel was still on heaven's A-list, but he and Lune stayed in contact. If anything was going down, Ith would know. But voicemail kicked in, his brother's laid-back laughter: I'm busy. Leave a message. If I give a shit, I'll call back.
Luniel swore-even after centuries, defiance felt good-and waited for the beep. "Party never stops upstairs, huh. Call me, asshole," he said, and ended the call.
A week. Ithiel hadn't answered for a week. And now this.
It could be stupid luck. Coincidence. Random events colliding like flotsam.
But after two millennia spent dealing out heaven's wrath, and going on another one walking the earth and seeing it all from the other side, Luniel was wearily certain that what goes around, comes around to kick you in the balls.
Coincidence was bullshit. Nothing was random. Everything happened for a reason, and fate was one dastardly, despicable motherfucker you just couldn't avoid.
But inexorably-inexplicably-the blood lapping at his feet made him angry.
Defiantly, recklessly, sinfully angry.
INTERVIEW
Erica Hayes
The Avid Reader: What inspired you to write Revelation?
Erica Hayes: I love dark, gritty paranormal romance, and I adore the idea of fallen angels. What's a guy to do when he no longer has a purpose? Save the world, naturally-from demons trying to hijack the Apocalypse and bring on the end of the world. I got a lot of inspiration from real-life doomsday prophecies. Plagues, armies of evil, oceans of blood and the sky raining fire. Honestly, you couldn't make this stuff up-but what if a prophecy like that came true?
The Avid Reader: When or at what age did you know you wanted to be a writer?
Erica Hayes: I've always written. It's in my blood. But you can do that without wanting to be published, or wanting a fabulous, stressful, maddening career as an author. It took me many years and a few uninspiring 'real jobs' to realize I can't be happy unless I'm doing something creative. I'm only moderately talented as a musician and I suck at visual arts, so here I am!
The Avid Reader: What is the earliest age you remember reading your first book?
Erica Hayes: I remember sitting with my mum's lap as a little girl, reading a picture book called 'Animal Train'. I don't remember the plot, but it definitely involved a tunnel and giraffes poking their heads out of holes in the train's roof. I don't know how old I was, but Mum always says I was born reading.
The Avid Reader: What genre of books do you enjoy reading?
Erica Hayes: Fantasy, romance, paranormal, horror, science fiction. All the juicy genre stuff. Occasionally I find a 'literary' book I enjoy, but mostly it's genre all the way. I like books that have a story.
The Avid Reader: What is your favorite book?
Erica Hayes: Them's fighting words! I have to divide it by genre, I'm afraid. I love THE SHADOW OF THE TORTURER by Gene Wolfe and WOLF HALL by Hilary Mantel and EXQUISITE CORPSE by Poppy Z. Brite and BEST SERVED COLD by Joe Abercrombie and THE GUNSLINGER by Stephen King - none of them can satisfactorily be compared to any of the others.
The Avid Reader: You know I think we all have a favorite author. Who is your favorite author and why?
Erica Hayes: You know, I'm not sure we do :) but one author who has never left me disappointed is Stephen King. I haven't read all his books, but his characterization is second to none. Every person in his stories is so real.
The Avid Reader: If you could travel back in time here on earth to any place or time. Where would you go and why?
Erica Hayes: Complicated question. Small print, please! Do I get to come back? The Italian Renaissance, then. If I have to stay back there… well, twenty years ago would be nice. I'd track my younger self down and beat some sense into me…
The Avid Reader: When writing a book do you find that writing comes easy for you or is it a difficult task?
Erica Hayes: Difficult but endlessly rewarding. Some times it's desperately frustrating. I imagine it as similar to being a painter-your skill sometimes doesn't measure up to the image you've got in your head.
The Avid Reader: Do you have any little fuzzy friends? Like a dog or a cat? Or any pets?
Erica Hayes: I am owned by an immense orange cat named Dr. Watson. He enjoys food, sleep, food, cuddles and food, preferably in that order. We also have a cute little fluffy dog named Arnie (after the Governator) but we had to leave him in Australia with doting relatives when we moved to the UK. No doubt he will be spoilt rotten when we get home. No, Arnie, you can't sleep on the bed…
The Avid Reader: What is your "to die for", favorite food/foods to eat?
Erica Hayes: I love chocolate! I miss Australian chocolate. Even the brand-name bars taste different in the UK. I'm told it's because Aussie chocolate has added ingredients so it won't melt in the heat. True story… My favorite all-time cuisine would have to be Italian. Closely followed by Greek. My nana is a Greek lady and her cooking is scrumptious!
The Avid Reader: Do you have any advice for anyone that would like to be an author?
Erica Hayes: Go for it! Opportunities are multiplying like they never have before. But use caution. Learn your craft and your readership. Be prepared to spend money and time on promotion, whether you go indie or traditional. And don't necessarily jump at the first opportunity that comes your way. All publishers (and distributors) are not equal. You have choices, so be informed.
MY REVIEW
Revelation
The following review is my opinion and not a paid review. I was given a free copy of the book from the author for my honest opinion.
Dr. Morgan Sterling is a medical examiner who doesn't believe in God, angels the devil or any kind of religion for that matter. She only believes in what she can see. When people start turning into zombies and the world is coming to an end as she and the people of Babylon know it all Morgan wants to do is find a cure for the virus. She wants to save all these people and give them their lives back.
She is pretty shaken up when an angel shows up in her morgue. She can't believe what she is seeing. Her world is turned upside down when she starts seeing angels and demons. Even though she sees them she still doesn't believe her own eyes. And she definitely doesn't trust this angel or God. She thinks they are all lairs just like the preachers on tv.
The angel she sees in her morgue is Luniel. He is one gorgeous dude or angel that is. Morgan is attracted to him right from the beginning as he is to her. Neither one understands their feelings for one another. How can they care and feel the need to be with each other so strongly when they have just met?
Luniel wants to take Morgan and make her his. He doesn't understand because he has not felt this way about a human or angel in like a thousand years or more. Lune is a tainted angel who fights evil in the world trying to make amends for his sins so he can earn his place in heaven again. That is all Lune wants is to do what is required of him so that he can get back into God's good graces and return to heaven. But his love for Morgan changes all that for him. If getting back into heaven means that he can't be with Morgan then he is willing to give all that up for her.
I learned to care about all of Lune's friends like Jadzia, Trill, Dash and all the other tainted angels. They are all very lovable characters. You get inside all of their heads at some point or other in the story. You get to know each character like who they were and you get to know a little bit about what kind of heart they each have. I really enjoyed reading about zombies and the world ending when all the vials has been released. I love that the world is ending with the release of the vials and with zombies all mixed in together. I can't wait to read the next book in the series Redemption. If the first vial is zombies then what will the next vials hold?
- About the Author
Erica Hayes was a law student, an air force officer, an editorial assistant and a musician, before finally landing her dream job: fantasy and romance writer.
She writes dark paranormal and urban fantasy romance, and her books feature tough, smart heroines and colourful heroes with dark secrets.
She hails from Australia, where she drifts from city to city, leaving a trail of chaos behind her. Currently, she's terrorizing the wilds of Northumberland.
- ONLINE LINKS
- GIVEAWAY
1 $25 bookstore gift card (winner's choice of bookstore)
1 a signed set of the Shadowfae series (4 paperbacks)
2 Kindle copies of short vampire romance HUNTER’S BLOOD
2 comments:
I'd love to win Shadowfae or a gift card! Thank you!!!
Thank you for the chance to enter the giveaway :)
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